Fitness Trackers Buying Guide

Keep a keen eye on your overall health and fitness with an activity tracker. With so many to choose from, let the Fitness Trackers Buying Guide take the hard work out of shopping.

Fitness Tracker Types

At Officeworks we offer a wide range of fitness trackers from top brands like Fitbit and Garmin.

Fitbit Charge 2

The Fitbit Charge 2 is one of the most recent models of Fitness Trackers by Fitbit. It offers a heart rate monitor, excellent battery life of 5 days, sleep monitoring, silent alarms and wireless syncing in addition to generic tracker features like distance, calories burned, active minutes and steps.

Fitbit Surge

Fitbit Surge is the premium fitness tracker from Fitbit and uses GPS tracking which offers a much more accurate measurement of distance, pace and elevation climbed. It features a superior battery life of 7+ days and several different modes designed to track different sports, activities and workouts. On its handy display, you can see text and call notifications and even control music playing from your smartphone.

Fitbit Flex 2

The Fitbit Flex was a revolution in the fitness tracker world, bringing great features to the masses with stylish wristbands and affordable prices. The Flex 2 can track both activity and sleep, and can be worn as a wristband, bangle or pendant.

Garmin VivoFit 4

The Garmin VivoFit 4 is a mid-range fitness tracker featuring an informative display that can be cycled through to check on daily goals, kilometres covered and calories burned. The jewel in the VivoFit 4 crown is its whopping 1-year long battery life.

Samsung Gear S3

Straddling the line between smart watch and fitness tracker, the Samsung Gear S3 is a stylish addition to the Samsung family. Compatible with Samsung smart devices, the Gear S3 is ideal for those looking for a device that combines the features of a fitness tracker and those of a smart watch.

Shop By Brands

Features

Heart Rate Monitor

A heart rate monitor tends to feature on the more up-market activity trackers, aimed at those who take their sport and exercise seriously. A heart rate monitor will help you more accurately track your performance and health.

Battery Life

The standard fitness tracker tends to offer around a few days’ worth of battery life before requiring charging again. Depending on how important battery life is to you, there are devices out there with battery life reaching 6 months to 1 year.

Water Resistant/Splash Proof

Water resistance varies across devices, with some only being ‘splash proof’. Most are fine with going in the shower but if you are a keen swimmer then look for a fitness tracker that offers proper water resistance.

Display

Depending on how much motivation you require, display may be important. Trackers like the Jawbone range and Fitbit Flex offer little in the way if displays, so if you want to have instant access to stats opt for a device with a more intuitive display such as the Samsung Gear Fit or Fitbit Surge.

Sleep Tracking

Sleep tracking has become a fairly standard feature in fitness trackers, but if it is important to you, you may wish to check out devices that track automatically as some require switching to sleep mode to enable tracking.

Smartphone Compatibility

If you intend to sync up your fitness tracker to your smartphone, be sure to check compatibility first. The majority of fitness trackers are compatible with Android and iOS but some lesser known models may not be supported.

Apps

Generally speaking, if there’s a fitness tracker, there’s an app. Each app vastly varies according to device, so if you are big on data you may wish to choose your device based on how in-depth the supported apps are.

GPS

For the most accurate of fitness tracking, a tracker that features GPS is a must. Whilst standard trackers are moderately accurate with distances covered and speeds, the results can often be inconsistent. If you are looking to improve your stats, accurate data is essential so a fitness tracker with GPS will help you monitor improvements in distances, speed and more.

Accessories

Sports Headphones

Nothing motivates like music, but regular headphones are not ideal for a strenuous workout. Sports headphones are perfectly designed to withstand the rigours of exercise - staying in place and undamaged by sweat, water and activity.